wineandwinter

Ungh, life has derailed me a bit AGAIN. Just when I think I have a groove going... SMH! Still trying to plug along.

Slates- yes, first one. I've never been big on running, but for some reason I wanted to try this. My weird brain, let me show you it.

Yeah, story of my life. As beautiful as it is up here, I really feel isolated some times. Welp- on my own it is.

So as much as I love the fact that hubby WANTS to run the 5K with me... he's just too busy, and our schedules don't mesh. I've been back on my afternoon runs, around 5pm, and that seems to work well for me. Week 2 Day 2 is in the books. Also FINALLY picked up a guitar (acoustic electric, Alvarez... got a good deal, it's a sweet little thing) and am starting to futz with chords. One would hope that with all the typing I do that my fingers would be able to translate that to string/fret placement... but so far no. Just gotta keep pluggin' away at it.... And in Dresden-related news... Jim Butcher will be at DragonCon! Yay! Hopefully he'll do a panel or something I can catch.... *goes to check*

Geez I've been bad about posting in here. The good news is, after a bit of a stutter (mainly caused by trying to accommodate my hubby's schedule; I've given up on that for now) I'm back on track and have completed Week 2 Day 2 of #C25K. Things seem to be going well; I can feel the difference already, and every day I can sense little improvements (I was able to run the sets without stopping, or don't feel as winded as I used to). I'm also trying to eat healthier. Little things, like more fruit and veggies and salads (and staying out of the resort kitchen, which is full of temptations- blame solely resting on Sam, who is our extraordinary pastry chef!), and focusing on smoothies for lunch whenever possible (spinach, mango, and blueberry was DELISH) and avoiding sweeteners. It's hard to quantify the food thing, as I don't have a specific goal, but I'm planning on that for over the winter when there aren't so many temptations around. Oh! I forgot to mention: we bought a guitar! I'm learning a few chords and I want to play songs SO BADLY but it just isn't there yet. Argh! Why can't I just pick it up and go? So the 5K we've registered for is on Sept. 12, which is the end of Week 6 of the C25K program. Might not be able to run the whole thing, but hey- I'm doing it. And that's counts!

Oh Alathel, that's tough. Injury has a way of not only affecting your body but your mind as well. It's okay; take the time to recover properly. It gives you time to plot out your path back to activity. Hang in there! Do what you can do, even if it's something small. *hugs*

A lot of it just boils down to... I just have to do it. If I run around 5pm, that seems to work well. I did actually make it today, so I just need to not break the chain!

It's finding the time. Mornings are too early, with the kids having to be at work at 7am- have tried, numerous times, to get up at 5am to get it in but it just doesn't happen. Then I get home from work and it's chores and dinner and by the time hubby gets home from his 2 jobs it's 8pm (or later) and we're both wiped. Just... grrr. At this point it's been almost 2 weeks since the last time I ran. The only thing that keeps me wanting to keep going is the knowledge that I signed up for that darn 5k so I better do something about it!

*gigglesnort* Speak for yourself... I'm having a devil of a time AGAIN just trying to keep going....

SO I admit, it hasn't been a good week. Ran on Monday... TOTALLY gapped it on Wednesday. As in, was crawling into bed at the end of the day and went, "Oh CRAP." Was going to do it yesterday but got home from work and had a mini-sanity meltdown at the TV and 2 computers all going at the same time with different things (small house, open floorplan, two teenage boys). And THAT prompted a massive clean/purge and rearrangement of the boys room so all their gaming consoles are now in there along with a loveseat and ottomans and I can CLOSE THE DOOR and they will no longer hog the main television for their games. So... tonight I run. In the meantime, here is the week 1 Mini-Challenge: SMART Goals. Forgive the copy and paste. Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable? Completely! Trying to keep it simple so I can build on some success. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? Mainly one main quest, with a single side-quest. Again- trying to build some success so I have more confidence moving forward. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? See above. I am confident that by keeping things simple and building on a base of habit and success that I can continue to move forward with additional quests. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them? Main quest: yes. I have an app that will guide me through the process, and the proof will be in the running of the 5K. Side quest: A little more difficult with this one, but the first step- buying the guitar- is definitely measurable! Let's say: 4 songs learned. How are you grading your goals? Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)? Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? Main quest is pretty pass/fail, but with 3x a week, even if I miss a day I can make it up. Am planning a reward for the effort; even if I don't run the whole 5K, it's something I wouldn't have done at all before, so that's a move in the right direction! What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? Alternate goal: run a 5K by the end of the year. Alternate alternate goal: go to hot yoga 3x a week if 5K is completely undoable. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge? What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? There are a few coming up- grad parties, 4th of July, Moondance Jam, Labor Day... I think with my 3x/wk schedule I can work around these. Most of the "events" I have coming up are on weekends, and am not planning any traveling or "away" time. (Easy to do when you have 2 teenagers, 3 dogs, and 6 chickens...) Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? No. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set? If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? Definitely. I'm thinking afternoon runs at first, just because it's easier for me than trying to fight everyone/thing in the morning. And plenty of time for guitar practice after supper. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? Focusing on the runs as the main goal/habit.

I've read them all numerous times- it's one of those series that I enjoy going back and re-reading, which is new for me, but I found I picked up more and noted different things each time I went though! Although I admit- I haven't read Skin Game yet. *hangs head* Hrm. Perhaps a quick visit to Amazon is due...

Here is a great resource for a quick and easy color codes: Visibone Webmaster's Color Lab. Does it cover EVERY color? No. But it's simple!

I know we have a lot of animal lovers around here. So... let's have a Pet Show! Post photos of your pets and if there are stories behind them (how you got them, funny things they do, what makes them unique), I want to hear them. I currently have three dogs and six chickens. My three dogs are all adopted- two from the local shelter, and one from a rescue situation- and as such their lineage is mostly unknown. First is Jack, the Wonder Dog: (This was the day we brought him home.) The local animal shelter had to empty it's kennels to do a deep clean/sanitize- they'd had chronic kennel cough running through for months and hadn't been able to contain it- so they sent out a plea to the community to come and adopt out all the animals. It was Wednesday by the time we were able to go and the kennels were mostly empty... but this one dog, who seemed a bit reserved, and looked lab- like, was still there. Turns out he'd been in his quarantine phase and had just gotten onto the floor that morning. He'd been found at large, no collar or tags, and hadn't even been named yet. So, despite my misgivings (we had a 15 yr old cat at home, I wasn't sure I was ready for a dog, and for crying out loud he was a LAB), we took him home to "foster" (yeah right). We walked in the door with the dog. The cat hissed and puffed up. The dog looked at her and essentially shrugged and ignored her. I looked at my hubby. "I think he's a keeper." Later we found out he could fetch, and was impeccable about dropping the ball on the ground between your feet. And he LOVES leaping off the dock into the lake! He's sweet and quiet, loves people and is reserved around other dogs but given time and space warms up. He was our gateway dog. We tend to call him "BDE": Best Dog Ever. Next we have Baby: We didn't name Baby, she came to us with that name. We were originally fostering her for a family that had lost their house and were trying to get back on their feet. It was a bit of a rough start- after a few days she stopped eating, and the only way she would eat anything over the next two weeks was if I drowned it in chicken broth, which earned her the nickname "Little Miss Princess Prissy Pants". She was with us for 2 years before her original family were settled enough to take her back. Then for another 2 years it was a constant back and forth: they were short on money, they had to leave town for a couple weeks, then there was a new baby and they couldn't care for her until things settled down... I didn't like it, I didn't think it was good for the dog, and the last straw was when I came home one day and she'd been dropped off once again- and was 15 pounds over weight. Poor thing was a sausage with no waist and skinny little legs. I looked at hubby and said, "They know they're not getting her back this time, right?" My sister in law- who LOVED that little dog- almost didn't recognize her, that's how bad it was. Oh, there was drama. There was yelling and accusations and at one point, the police were called. (Thankfully, my hubby was acquaintances with the officer involved and the matter was quickly handled.) The dog was put on a regular diet and exercise and was back to her sleek little self in no time. She's athletic and happy, has a 6 foot vertical jump (!!!) and actually behaves more like a cat than a dog. And then we have Katie, the black lab: (This is her post-surgical getup after she had a small tumor removed from her armpit. But check out the puppy-dog eye look!) She is my hubby's dog. We met Katie at the annual "Hoofin' It for HART" fundraiser for our local animal shelter; hubby was smitten. So much so that he continued to go back to the shelter, week after week, to check up on her and take her for walks and play time. After 6 months of being at the shelter, the shelter director called my husband and said, "She needs to get out of here, she's starting to get a little crazy from being here so long! I know you've been keeping an eye on her... PLEASE take the dog." I got a text of a picture of the dog in our backyard. "Can we keep her?" At point, I figured I didn't have any choice, LOL! She's pretty much your typical, goofy lab. As I like to say, "There's a lot of derp in that dog." But she's a big sweetie- a big, gassy, groany (she kind of purrs) lab. The three get along well. This was at our friend's house after a long day spent outside (please note Baby curled up in the cat bed!): Tired dogs are happy dogs. I also have six chickens, they're about a year old now. (There was an accidental rooster in the bunch, but he's since been... dealt with. And he was delicious.) Here they are taking dust baths in the garden bed (obviously before anything was planted). Because they're laying chickens, and I'm a nerd, they've all been given BSG themed names. The bronze and blacks (Gold Laced Wyandottes) are Athena and Boomer, and yes- they are practically clones, very bossy and pushy girls. The two buffs (Buff Orpingtons) are Cally and Dualla. The black (Australorp) is Tory; the buff and black (Buff Brahma) is Starbuck-buck-buck. (She had a "sister" I named Six but there was an unfortunate dog incident in which Jack lost his "Best Dog Ever" status for about a week.) I usually get about 4 to 5 eggs a day. Ever since the weather warmed up though they've been slacking, and it's been a month or so and not a SINGLE egg. (My bestie has 2 dozen and hers are doing the same thing.) But I still adore them. It's like the chicken version of a fish tank....

LOL Tyburn Lil, I've heard that's the problem with greyhounds... 40mph couch potatoes. We currently have a black lab (shelter dog), a red lab mix (we think either lab/golden or straight up British Lab- again, shelter dog, who knows?), and our little sleek-and-lean black and tan mutt (who was a rescue, but not from the shelter). 80, 65, and 35 pounds respectively. This is the first year they've held this particular event, so I'm looking forward to the turnout. I'll probably bring the littlest dog, as she's the easiest to wrangle and the most relaxed around other dogs. (The black lab is a tad too unfocused, and the red lab is slow to warm up to other dogs.) This has me thinking... should start a doggie thread around here somewhere.

I just updated it in my sig. http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/69433-wineandwinters-sort-of-first-challenge/